﻿﻿​If the thought of high impact, rod jarring and reel screaming fishing brings a smile to your face, you will love Bumpa-Barring. Below we will explore the tactics, techniques and tackle needed to get the most from your next Bumpa-Barring experience.﻿﻿

Tactics: Let me begin by saying that the success of any lure will always be greatly influenced by the skill, knowledge and expertise of the angler at the other end of the rod. Fishing with Bumpa-Bars is no exception. Following are five fundamental principles of Bumpa-Barring that will help with the task of consistently finding fish, and more importantly, delivering your next Bumpa-Bar into the strike zone.

Know your Target: It is very important that you take the time to study the habits of the species that you wish to target. Familiarise yourself with the kind of habitat and structures around which they like to aggregate. Learn about the tides, moon, water temperature and seasons, and how these effect feeding patterns and activity levels. Also keep in mind the types and sizes of bait fish being consumed, and use this information to aid in the selection of Bumpa-Bar Lure colour and size.

Find the Action: Bumpa-Barring is highly active, with success often depending on the angler searching for fish rather than waiting for the fish to find you. Using your knowledge of the species being targeted, identify suitable structures and substrate features that should hold fish. Learn to read the water and identify current lines, back eddies and upwellings. Always keep your eyes peeled for bait schools as these usually indicate the presence of some bottom feature that may be worth further investigation. By continually finding the action, you will cover far more water and catch many more fish in half the time.

Fish the Flow-on: Whether you are fishing wrecks, bommies, reefs, spurs or shoals, you will usually find fish and bait schools aggregated along the flow-on. The flow-on refers to the leading edge of these structures that is receiving the impacting force of the current. This impact point creates intense eddies and upwellings that provide suitable aggregation and feeding points for all kinds of marine creatures. Current direction can be determined from the light blue arrows on your navigation chart and is a good guide, particularly around islands and other major structures that interfere with normal current flow.

The E Factor: Recent technological advancements and substantial price reductions have meant that sophisticated marine electronics are now the norm, rather than the exception. Colour sounders, GPS and even under water video cameras have all made the fishing of hidden underwater structures far easier and effective. When considering sounders, buy colour as it helps significantly to differentiate between bottom structures, bait schools and individual species. In the power department look for something around 400W RMS or greater and the best pixel count - it makes finding those half-buried plane wrecks much easier! For this style of fishing I prefer a large screen Chart plotter GPS that allows you to zoom right down to a few meters across the screen. This is very useful when repeating drifts, or relocating very small structures. Talk to your marine electronics dealer for more information on brands, specifications and price.

Persistence, Patience and Confidence: Probably the most important characteristic of any successful Bumpa-Barring session is the ability to persist when the fish are not playing the game. To remain confident that you are fishing in the right place, at the right stage of tide, and with the right choice of Bumpa-Bar Lure is something that only comes from experience. It is important to realise that fish don’t feed all the time, so certain tide cycles will be more productive than others. It is common to observe a definite reduction in pelagic activity when tidal run slows between tides, so in this instance you would persist with the expectation that things will improve once the run increases. You must also have confidence in the Bumpa-Bar Lure being used, and trust that if the fish are there, they will be fooled by the imitation and that you are not wasting your time.